Improvement in forming bell-crown hats



Witnesses. A I Inventor, 4

@ www f UNITED ASTATES PATENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FORMING BELL-CROWN HATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 37,682, dated February 17, 1863.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. DOUBLE- DAY, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented, made and applied to use, a certain new and useful Method of Pressing Hats, &c.; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing', making part of this specication, wherein I have represented a vertical section of the iinishingdie.

Hats, bloomers, 85o., have been pressed by dies out of one piece of material, as in the patent of Wm. Osborn, August 19, 1856.

My invention does not relate to the pressing of hats, bloomers, &c., out of one piece of material by dies, but it does consist in a method of forming bell-crowned hats, bloomers, Src., by a contractile band employed to give the bell-shape after the hat has `been pressed by dies with a straight-sided crown.

In order to form said hats, I provide dies with straight, or nearly straight, sides to the crown, and heated in the usual manner with irons or in any other convenient way, and by said dies I press a hat or bloomer from a sheetot' felt-cloth or other material, said hat assuming the form of the dies, and these dies are to be shaped so as to give the proper form to the brim, and the proper size and shape to the top of the crown. These dies being well known do not require further description. I provide a second pair of dies, as shown in the drawing, where a is the part of the inner die adapted in size and shape to the brim of the pressed hat, and bis the block or die of the bell-shape required for the crown. c is a die corresponding in shape to the part a, receiving the brim. The hats themselves are stiifencd with sizing of different kinds. Some are dry, or nearly so, when pressed, the heat softening the sizing. Others are damp and soft and require to be dried. In either instance my method may be employed. In the one case the hat is removed from the ordinary die while hot and soft, and in the other case before being dry. In either instance the hat is placed immediately on the die a b, which may be heated or not, as desired, and an elastic band, d, placed around the crown to compress or draw in the sides of the crown to the shape of the die b. `The brimdie c is then placed on to keep the brim from beingdrawn out of shape in iinishin g the crown, and the hat is left to dry or cool, according to the character of stiffenin g employed. The hat can be removed from the block or die by raising up the crown and springing it over the larger upper part of the die, or, if desired, this part b of the die can be made in sections similar to an ordinary bell-crowned hat-block. The elastic band d, of india-rubber or similar material, might be employed to draw in the the sides of the hat a-nd give a bel1shape to the crown upon the die employed to give the general shape to the hat, and thereby dispense with the second die; but I prefer and use this second die as facilitating the operation of pressing. However, where the stiii'ening is of such a nature that the hat dries or hardens by the heat, the whole operation may be advantageously performed on one die.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The method herein specified of forming bellcrowned hats, bloomers, &c., by an elastic band applied around the crown to draw the same to the die or block, after the general shape has been given to the hats or bloomer between dies, as specified. v

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature this 4th day of December, 1862.

WM. E. DOUBLEDAY. Witnesses:

LEMUEL W. SERRELL, CHAs. H. SMITH. 

